Erasmus Mundus and the New European Dimension to Higher Education

By Vito Borrelli and Wesley Teter

Yina is a recent graduate in public health working in Beijing and has committed herself to pursuing her Masters degree abroad. In the newspaper, she discovers exactly the opportunity she has been looking for, a scholarship program that recruits and finances young graduates to study in a culturally and linguistically rich environment for up to two years. Josef, a 26-year old student has graduated from the University of Nairobi with upper division honours in anthropology. He has found news on an Internet site about a new European programme offering non-European graduate students the possibility for studying abroad. Dr. Lerner, a professor and leading scholar of development economics from the United States, is contacted by a prestigious London university to establish a partnership with a new European Masters consortium requiring his specific expertise. He finds that his stay in Europe will be financed by the European Union and arranges a preparatory meeting with the relevant department. And finally, the University of Brasilia has a long history of exchanges with Portuguese universities but would like to increase the scope of its cooperation with other European institutions. The University of Porto invites Brasilia to participate in a partnership on a European Masters course involving Germany and Denmark as well.

Decisions are made everyday by students and scholars about how best to pursue their training and further education; and an increasing number of universities worldwide are partnering to produce compelling results in terms of exchange of expertise and intercultural dialogue. In 2004, the European Union strengthened its commitment to these individuals and these institutions by launching a 230 Million Euro global cooperation and scholarship programme called Erasmus Mundus.

What Is Erasmus Mundus?
The aim of Erasmus Mundus is to enhance the quality of European higher education by fostering cooperation with non-EU countries. The Erasmus Mundus programme is designed to improve the development of human resources and to promote dialogue and understanding between peoples and cultures. As a whole, the program provides a response to the challenges of globalisation faced by European higher education today, in particular the need to adapt education systems to the demands of the knowledge society and to stimulate the process of convergence of degree structures across Europe.

The Erasmus Mundus programme funds Masters courses that by 2008 should considerably raise the number of non-EU students studying in Europe. According to internal estimates, there will be some 5,000 - 10,000 additional non-EU students receiving scholarships and over 1,000 non-EU scholars carrying out teaching or research assignments in these courses. Student scholarships are 21,000 Euro per academic year and 13,000 Euro for three months for scholars. The programme will also offer scholarships for over 4,000 outgoing European students and over 1,000 outgoing European scholars. Last but not least, Erasmus Mundus will support partnership between ‘Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses’ and higher education institutions around the world. Through recruiting and providing scholarships for the most qualified students and scholars, Erasmus Mundus will increase the visibility and potential of European higher education institutions so that they may lead in a global education landscape. In this way, Europe has committed itself to acquiring a worldwide degree of attractiveness appropriate to its cultural and scientific achievements.

International Involvement – What is the Role of Non-European Universities
There are many concrete possibilities for universities, students and scholars from the United States and indeed from all countries of the world to participate in Erasmus Mundus. For example, non-EU universities may join an ‘Erasmus Mundus Masters consortium’ and receive European students studying abroad on scholarships. Partnerships with non-EU universities can only be initiated and established by ‘Erasmus Mundus Masters Consortia.’ The first partnerships will begin in the academic year 2005/2006 and are included in the call for proposals relating to that year. The non-EU partners will serve as learning platforms for the consortia students to gain additional expertise from outside of Europe.

How Can Students and Scholars Participate?
Students have to apply directly to the ‘Erasmus Mundus Masters Consortium’ that offers their desired Masters course. The list of selected projects with scholarships to offer is listed on the Erasmus Mundus website. To apply, students shall select a Masters course from the list of selected projects and follow the university specific application procedures. In each document, applicants will find a university website and a coordinator.

A scholar, according to the Erasmus Mundus programme, is an academic and/or professional of outstanding experience who carries out teaching or other scholarly work in an Erasmus Mundus consortium. Grants for scholars must also be established by each consortium and approved by the European Commission.

Erasmus Mundus class of 2004
Remembering back to our graduates Yina and Josef, one can see how the opportunities offered by Erasmus Mundus may meet their professional training requirements. For example, with her background in public health, Yina has come to know an Erasmus Mundus Masters course in international health. The consortium works closely with institutions in Asia, Africa and the Americas and focuses on improving the management of health services for disadvantaged populations. Josef on the other hand will pursue his Masters in International Humanitarian Aid. He will be trained in areas of international law, anthropology, relief aid management, human security and medicine and receive over 30,000 Euros over the course of his studies as a competitive scholarship.

The 19 selected Masters programs for the first year represent a broad range of academic and professional disciplines and more such programs will be added every year. In addition to those mentioned above, Masters consortia have already been developed in the fields of water and coastal management, law and economics, computational logic, rural development and many others. Each of these competitive programs will strive to recruit the most qualified students from around the world through their scholarship schemes. The Erasmus Mundus class of 2004 and those of the future invite the most gifted students and scholars from the United States and beyond to discover the opportunities of Europe.

For more information, please visit: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/mundus/index_en.html

Vito Borrelli is a European Commission official responsible for the implementation of the Erasmus Mundus programme particularly as concerns the relations with non-EU countries.

Wesley Teter was a trainee working in the European Commission in the unit responsible for education cooperation with non-EU countries. He know works at the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA).

Published previously in the print version of the Spring 2005 IIENetworker Magazine.